With a dome over two inlaid doors, with compartments inside to contain ceramic and wood vases, decorated with the Russian Imperial Arms. Each vase is identified with a numbering, which may have corresponded to a medicinal substance. At the bottom, drawers with metal handles and mother-of-pearl inlays.
This portable pharmacy is one of the most exquisite specimens of the art of furniture in Russia, circa 1800. This splendid work is very similar to that of the German craftsman Heinrich Gambs, one of the most prominent furniture makers in St Petersburg, who went to the Russian court in 1789 accompanying his master, the German cabinetmaker David Roentgen.
Heinrich Gambs opened a furniture workshop in St. Petersburg, attracting a very selected clientele, including the future Empress Maria Feodorovna, married to Paul I, Emperor of Russia (1754-1801), successor of Catherine the Great. He made furniture for the Pavlovsk and Czarskoe Selo palaces and the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg.
Author: Heinrich Gambs (1765-1831)
Russia
c. 1820
Birch, cedar, satinwood, inlaid with tortoise-shell and mother-of-pearl, and metal applications
Height: 81 cm; width: 53 cm; depth: 21,5 cm
Inventory n.º 15148
Date of acquisition: October 2009
